Auger confident ahead of Sheffield showdown

Matthew Elder

Chris Auger reckons Fife Flyers can cause an upset in the play-offs after giving a battling performance against Elite League runners-up Braehead Clan on Sunday.

Flyers went down 3-2 in the last game of the regular season but dominated for long spells, and Auger believes Flyers now have the confidence to tackle league champions Sheffield Steelers in this weekend’s play-off quarter-finals.

They’re going to have a lot of pressure on them and if we can find our offence like we have in the last couple of weeks we’ll be a dangerous team to play against

Chris Auger

“It’s never easy to take when you lose, but I was very pleased with the way we played for 60 minutes,” he said.

“It’s the kind of workmanlike effort you need to have every game.

“It was an amazing atmosphere, and we would’ve loved nothing more than to win and set ourselves up for Braehead in the the play-offs, because I don’t think they would’ve wanted to see us.

“They’ve had success against us but we felt confident against them.

“Instead we’re facing Sheffield and it’s going to be a tremendous challenge.

“They won the league so all the pressure is on them.

“We’re just looking forward to the first game at home and going to work against them.

“They’re going to have a lot of pressure on them and if we can find our offence like we have in the last couple of weeks we’ll be a dangerous team to play against.”

Auger believes Flyers have a genuine chance of play-off success now they have learned to control their emotions.

“It’s been up and down all year,” he said. “You never want to get too high or too low but we’ve had trouble battling our emotions.

“Over the past few weeks I feel we’ve come to a certain level where we can manage it and next week it’s going to be like that.